Ruby Church
The church of Wee Jas, goddess of magic, vanity, knowledge, law and death. Description The church of Wee Jas is powerful and multi-faceted. As the church of the goddess of death it is viewed with a mixture of fear and awe – people taking comfort in the guardianship of the church over graves, yet never quite being able to shake the unease of the association of the church with death. Indeed, some practitioners are necromancers, but they are limited by the church to purely academic study, as only Wee Jas herself should be allowed to circumvent the laws of life and death. The only exception to this is those who prolong their own life, but even they must do so for the enhancement of knowledge, and must be prepared to destroy themselves once their studies are at an end. As the church of the goddess of vanity it is popular amongst those who seek to preserve their beauty, and those who wish to be saved from their ugliness. However, it is as the church of the goddess of magic that this organisation truly comes into its own. Magic is the ultimate power, and by mastering its secrets you can break all of the so-called laws of nature and reorder the world in a better image. However, the entirety of magic cannot be mastered in a single lifetime. Only through carefully studying the work of sages and wizards of the past can you gain a full appreciation of this power. The fact that mortals must pass from this world does not mean that their knowledge must die with them. The church routinely uses necromancy to contact the spirits of dead master mages, hoping to recover lost knowledge. Thus, the Ruby Church studies death for the purpose of further expanding its mastery of magic. Temples to the Ruby Sorceress are filled with the ancient bones of long-dead mages, as well as carefully preserved scrolls that hold the distilled knowledge and research of their lives. Enemies & Allies The church of Wee Jas generally distrusts the church of Pelor – deities of life and death regarding each other as nemeses. However, Wee Jas is not evil, and her cult outright despises the cult of Nerull, who uses death and undeath as weapons, stripping the meaning from the cycle of life and death. Wee Jas’s church is also a rival of Boccob’s, considering the overlapping of their portfolios in the area of magic. Wee Jas’s church has no love for the churches of most chaotic gods; however, there has always been a mutual respect between her church and that of Kord due to their mutual Murmaran heritage. It is thus all the more painful that the church has fallen out with its one true ally in Sasserine over the actions of a despot over a century ago. Members The followers of Wee Jas are many. Spell casters of all disciplines – especially those who must learn to cast spells rather than do so through natural talent – worship Wee Jas as the goddess of magic, and many worship her who are guardians of death or hunters of the undead. Many worshippers pursue multiple spell-casting classes, and the most powerful are formidable bastions of magical might. Titles The Ruby Church is based on a strict hierarchy, with considerable heed paid to individual knowledge and magical strength when determining whether the member should be promoted. Ranks are denoted by a gemstone and a title based on experience. Duties Members must tithe to the Ruby Temple on a monthly basis. To gain a promotion, a member must spend 24 hours in one of the crypts below a temple of Wee Jas. During this time, he must commune with the dead interred there using magic. Benefits Membership of the church of Wee Jas enhances a member’s magical skills. Category:Church Category:Affiliation Category:Ruby Church Category:Wee Jas